We start off with the original single release of Beast Hunters Cyberverse Legion Class Predacon Rippersnapper (left) and the version from the Abominus giftset (right), which was released as part of the „Predacons Rising“ subline.

The individual release of Rippersnapper had been hard to find in the USA for a long time, since it was initially shipped to stores together with his fellow Predacons Windrazor (see here) and Blight, but later shipments replaced Rippersnapper with Air Vehicon (see here), therefore Windrazor and Blight were considerably easier to find. In Germany, Rippersnapper was relatively easy to find, which is why I shipped several specimens to people in the USA (often in exchange for Air Vehicon, until the latter was released locally as well). Fortunately, Rippersnapper’s availability in the USA improved after a few months. The Abominus giftset, meanwhile, was exclusively available at Target stores in the USA and Canada, at Tesco stores in the United Kingdom, at Carrefour stores in France, at Ripley stores in Chile and, after more than a year-long delay, at Toys“R“Us stores in Australia. In Germany, the set was never officially available.

The „Predacons Rising“ version of Rippersnapper replaces the single release’s gray plastic with slightly gray-tinted clear plastic and the teal plastic with an ever-so-slightly darker shade. In turn, the teal paint operations have become considerably lighter, resulting in a very jarring contrast compared to the teal plastic. In robot mode, the Predacon insignia on the right side of the chest is now purple instead of yellow with a black outline. The included weapon is now clear purple instead of opaque dark gray.

The figure on the left is Cindersaur from the „Predacons Rising“ two-pack with Smokescreen (see here), the figure on the right is Jurara from the „Goradora Set„, released as part of the „Transformers: Go!“ line. The Cindersaur/Smokescreen two-pack was exclusively available at Target stores in the USA and Canada and at Tesco stores in the United Kingdom; the Goradora Set was only released in Japan, just like the rest of the „Go!“ line.

Jurara essentially replaces Rippersnapper’s teal plastic with purple plastic, the teal paint operations with metallic purple paint operations and the yellow paint operations with metallic gold paint operations. In robot mode, the Predacon insignia on the right side of the chest is now black instead of yellow with a black outline. The gray plastic is basically unchanged, though it might be an ever-so-slightly shade darker. Cindersaur sports similar colors as Jurara, but the purple plastic and the paint operations are both a slightly more red shade (the contrast looks more drastic in the photos than in person), the gray plastic is a slightly darker shade, and instead of a metallic gold shade, the yellow paint operations retain the color also used for Rippersnapper. In addition, the color of several paint operations has been completely changed: The robot stomach now sports a yellow instead of a purple paint operation, the purple paint operation for the separate piece that contains the robot head has been completely dropped, which can also be seen on the robot chest, and the green paint operations for the robot mode face and the beast mode eyes are now green instead of yellow. Likewise, the Predacon insignia on the right side of the chest is now green instead of black.

Age of Extinction Legion Class Grimlock was exclusively available at Walmart stores in the USA and Canada, at Emart stores in South Korea, at BigW stores in Australia, at Asda stores in the United Kingdom and at Müller drug stores in Germany. Unfortunately, when I visited the the closest Müller drug store, they only had Legion Class Decepticon Stinger in stock, who was shipped together with Grimlock; the other Müller stores with toy departments in my region also had no Legion Grimlocks in stock, assuming they carried Transformers toys at all. Therefore, I ultimately had someone from England send me a Grimlock.

With the „Classic“ version, I had more luck: In the USA, Grimlock, Strafe and Megatron were only available at discount chains such as Big Lots and Family Dollar, whereas in Australia and Europe, the figures are available at general retail, although Megatron is missing from this shipment in the United Kingdom and Germany for inexplicable reasons. In Germany, Grimlock and Strafe have thus far been found at Real supermarkets and Intertoys stores; just like the previous wave consisting of Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Starscream, they can be expected to show up at other chains in the near future as well.

The packaging of Grimlock and Strafe is riddled with discrepancies: The package art on the front side is taken from the „Retailer Incentive“ cover of the IDW comic book More than Meets the Eye #8 and the „Retailer Incentive“ cover A of the IDW comic book Rage of the Dinobots #2, respectively (with the colors changed to match the toys), the promotional photos on the back depict Grimlock with the sword of Beast Hunters Cyberverse Commander Class Optimus Prime, or more accurately, Decepticon Bludgeon (see here), and Strafe with the crossbow that came with Windrazor and Rippersnapper, even though the actual figures don’t include any weapons (the weapons are, however, also mentioned in the entries for Grimlock and Strafe at the official Hasbro website, which indicates that the decision to omit the weapons was made at a very late point), and the instructions are entirely wrong: Grimlock’s instructions depict EnergonCruellock, and Strafe’s instructions depict Beast WarsTerrorsaur. Redecos of the latter two figures were actually recently released as „Grimlock“ and „Strafe“, respectively, both as part of two-packs under the „Age of Extinction“ line, exclusively available at Walmart stores in the USA and at Asda stores in the United Kingdom.

Age of Extinction Legion Class Grimlock (left) and „Classic“ Legion Class Grimlock (right) side by side. Age of Extinction Grimlock uses a brownish-orange color for most of his plastic parts, „Classic“ Grimlock a golden brown color. In addition, „Classic“ Grimlock has more parts (the tail, back and head of the beast mode) made of black plastic than in AOE Grimlock’s case. The paint operations feature more differences than similarities in terms of shape, position and color; only the position and size of the Autobot insignia on the right side of the chest are about identical.

Unfortunately, as the sixth use of the sculpt, „Classic“ Grimlock shows first signs of mold detoriation: Various parts, notably the beast mode head and the robot mode chest, don’t peg together nearly as well as on previous releases of the sculpt.

Hasbro: Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Predacon Rippersnapper from the Abominus set (exclusively available at Target stores in the USA and Canada, exclusive to Tesco stores in the United Kingdom, exclusive to Carrefour stores in France, exclusive to Ripley stores in Chile and exclusive to Toys“R“Us stores in Australia; never released in Germany to my knowledge)

Hasbro: Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Cindersaur from the two-pack with Legion Class Smokescreen (exclusively available at Target stores in the USA and Canada and exclusive to Tesco stores in the United Kingdom; never released in Germany to my knowledge)

TakaraTomy: Go! Jurara (available as part of the „Goradora Set“ in Japan)

Hasbro: Age of Extinction Legion Class Grimlock (exclusively available at Walmart stores in the USA and Canada, exclusive to Emart stores in South Korea, exclusive to BigW stores in Australia, exclusive to Asda stores in the United Kingdom and exclusive to Müller drug stores in Germany)

Hasbro: Transformers (2014) „Classic“ Legion Class Grimlock (available at discount chains such as Big Lots and Family Dollar in the USA and available at general retail in Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany)

Just like the two Grimlocks, the „Goradora Set“ was also available without weapons.

To start off, here’s a comparison between both packaging variants of the NerfN-Strike EliteFirestrike. Just like in the case of the Strongarm, the Retaliator and the Rampage, the face of the Nerf model has been replaced with a considerably younger boy using a photo editing software. At least the paint operations of the blaster itself haven’t changed, which means we’re not dealing with an „economy version“ in this case!

The only difference on the pack of the packaging affects the warning labels in the lower section: Whereas the version with the younger Nerf model sports warning labels in 20 languages, the version with the younger Nerf model only sports warning labels in 19 languages. The Arabic warning label is completely missing.

For the sake of completeness, here is also a brief comparison between the original version of the Firestrike in the classic N-Strike Elite colors in blue, orange, white and gray and the 2014 version in the new Elite color scheme in orange, white and gray (also known as the „OJ“ version). The paint operations have slightly changed: The rear section of the red dot light is now painted gray instead or orange, and the additional white stripe below the red dot light is missing on both sides; furthermore, the sculpted „Nerf“ and „N-Strike Elite“ logos in the second photo are no longer painted black. In addition, the first photo shows that the name „Firestrike“ is no longer held in white on a dark gray background, but in gray without a painted background. In return, a tampographed white „Elite“ logo has been added below the name.

The OJ version of the Firestrike is currently only available as part of the „Precision Target Set„. In addition to the blaster, the set also contains a target (the same one that’s also included with the „Star Shot“ set from the „Rebelle“ line, only painted differently) an ten Micro Darts. Why Hasbro used the old Micro Darts, which aren’t compatible with most Elite blasters anymore, instead of the newer Suction Darts, is up to anyone’s guess. Either way, the use of the Micro Darts is most likely also the reason why the packaging markets the Precision Target Set as an N-Strike product rather than an N-Strike-Elite product.

A definitely non-exclusive single release of the OJ version of the Firestrike was released several months later, in early 2015. This version is not only marketed as an N Strike Elite product and includes Elite Darts, but is claimed to have an improved „Elite XD“ performance. The advertised range is now 90 feet (or 27 meters for the European version) compared to the original Elite version’s 75 feet (or 20 meters).